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We can turn to Matthew chapter 
23. Matthew chapter 23. We continue 
our exposition of Matthew's gospel. I want to read beginning in verse 
13, set it back into its context, and then look specifically at 
what is going on here with Jesus' teaching. Beginning in chapter 
23 at verse 13, hear now the word of the living and the true 
God. But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for 
you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men, for you neither 
go in yourselves nor do you allow those who are entering to go 
in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you devour widows' 
houses and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore, you 
will receive greater condemnation. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, 
hypocrites, for you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, 
and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of El 
as yourselves. Woe to you, blind guides, who 
say, whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing, but whoever swears 
by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it. Fools 
and blind, for which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies 
the gold? And whoever swears by the altar, 
it is nothing. But whoever swears by the gift 
that is on it, he is obliged to perform it. Fools and blind, 
for which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies 
the gift? Therefore, he who swears by the 
altar, swears by it and by all things on it. He who swears by 
the temple, swears by it and by him who dwells in it. and 
he who swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him 
who sits on it. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, 
hypocrites, for you pay the tithe of mint and anise and cumin and 
have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice and 
mercy and faith. These you ought to have done 
without leaving the others undone. Blind guides who strain out a 
gnat and swallow a camel, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, 
hypocrites, for you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, 
but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, 
first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside 
of them may be clean also. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, 
hypocrites, for you are like whitewashed tombs, which indeed 
appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's 
bones and all uncleanness. Even so, you also outwardly appear 
righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and 
lawlessness. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, 
hypocrites, because you build the tombs of the prophets and 
adorn the monuments of the righteous and say, If we had lived in the 
days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with 
them in the blood of the prophets. Therefore, you are witnesses 
against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the 
prophets. Fill up then the measure of your 
father's guilt. Serpents, brood of vipers, how 
can you escape the condemnation of hell? Therefore, indeed, I 
send you prophets, wise men, and scribes. Some of them you 
will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your 
synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may 
come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood 
of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, 
whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Assuredly, 
I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. 
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones 
those who are sent to her, how often I wanted to gather your 
children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but 
you are not willing. See, your house is left to you 
desolate, for I say to you, you shall see me no more till you 
say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Amen. Well, let us pray. Father, we 
thank you for the written word and we pray now for the ministry 
of the Holy Spirit. We confess our dullness and our 
hardness and our own remaining corruption and pray that you 
would indeed forgive, that you would clear these things away 
and cause us to receive, with thanksgiving, your word. We pray, 
God, that you would be glorified in this endeavor, that you would 
be pleased to bless the Word as it goes forth, and may your 
Holy Spirit, the blessed Spirit of the living and true God, truly 
rush upon us and cause us to receive these things. And we 
pray through Christ our Lord. Amen. Well, just a reminder of 
the particular context, we are in the Passion Week. The Lord 
Jesus enters into Jerusalem, as recorded for us in Matthew 
chapter 21. He curses the fig tree, and then He indeed engages 
in this controversy, or controversies, with the religious leaders on 
the Tuesday of the Passion Week. It begins when they challenge 
Him by asking Him by what authority He does the things that He does. 
So Jesus silences them, and then He tells three parables that 
are calculated to demonstrate that these men are guilty before 
the living and true God. It then goes on to record for 
us four controversies in terms of a verbal confrontation between 
the Lord Jesus and between these religious leaders. Remember that 
in chapter 22. They come to Him. They ask Him a question. They 
come to Him. They ask Him a question. They come to Him again. They 
ask Him a question. He's able to refute them each 
and every time. And then he poses the last question 
concerning the identity of the Messiah, the identity of the 
Lord's Christ, and he appeals to David and the Psalter to do 
so. And that brings us to chapter 23. Again, it's still the Passion 
Week, it's still the Tuesday. The Lord Jesus is now going to 
directly condemn the religious leaders. Remember in 23, verses 
1 to 12, He speaks to the multitudes and He speaks to the disciples. 
And He cautions them, He warns them, He tells them, insofar 
as they sit on Moses' seat and they accurately teach the Word 
of God, do what they say, observe it. But He says, do not follow 
their practice because they are hypocritical. They are men that 
say one thing and act in another way. They are men who pile up 
the burdens upon people, burdens that they themselves don't carry, 
and burdens they don't try to help others carry. He tells them, 
He warns them to watch out for these men. And here in chapter 
23, beginning at verse 13, these leaders must have come back into 
his area. They must have come back into 
his focus, and so now he speaks directly to these men in a series 
of woes. If you have the King James or 
the New King James, there are eight woes. If you have a modern 
edition, you have seven woes. Your woe in verse 14 may be in 
brackets or it may be in the margin. There's a bit of a variant 
reading there. I'm going to take it the way 
we have it in the New King James with the eight woes. But having 
said that, we're only going to look at the first woe this morning 
as I try and, again, set it in its context and try and demonstrate 
that what we have here is Christ functioning as God's prophet. So I want to look at two things 
this morning. In the first place, the precedent 
for His action. The precedent. That means what 
happened before to bring us to this particular point. And then 
secondly, the pronouncement of woes upon the religious leaders. I'll define woe in a little more 
detail in just a moment. But for now, just consider it 
the opposite of blessing. If we were to say, blessed be 
you, that's a good thing. If we say, woe to you, that's 
a bad thing. So kids, at least keep that bit 
in your mind at this point. When Jesus says, woe to you, 
scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, He is not wishing good things 
upon them. He is not pronouncing happy days 
for them. He is not giving them God's blessing, 
but He is telling them exactly the opposite. This has led a 
couple of men to consider this chapter this way. They've said 
it's the unloveliest chapter in the Gospel, or it's the most 
un-Christian chapter in Matthew, because Jesus uses strong, stern 
language pointed against Strong, stern sinners. It is a lovely 
chapter. It is a Christian chapter. The 
Lord Christ is operating consistently with the holiness and the righteousness 
and the justice of God Most High. Severe heresy calls for severe 
condemnation. And that is precisely what the 
Lord Christ is engaged in. Now note the precedent for His 
action before we get to verse 13. I think His office in view 
is that of prophet. If I were to ask you this morning, 
what are the three offices of Jesus Christ, I trust most of 
you would be able to tell me. He's a prophet, he's a priest, 
and he's a king. Well, we'll see his priestly 
office further along in the Passion Week when Christ dies, when Christ 
goes to the cross to sacrifice for sinners. That is the priestly 
function of Christ. We see his regal, his royal authority, 
his kingly office when he comes triumphantly into Jerusalem. He comes in accordance with Zechariah 
9, verse 9. He's riding on that donkey's 
colt, and he is being praised by the people. As well, Matthew's 
Gospel signs off on that high note of the kingly office of 
Jesus. All authority in heaven and on 
earth has been given to me. Not some authority, not a bit 
of authority, not a partial authority, but all authority in heaven and 
on earth. It's the ground or the foundation 
upon which the Great Commission follows. Jesus says, as a result 
of me being invested with all authority, you go therefore and 
make disciples of all the nations. But it's the prophetic office 
that's in view in this particular instance. And we've met with 
Christ as prophet previously. Go back to Matthew 17 for just 
a moment. Matthew chapter 17. I just want 
us to see that Christ is speaking here as a prophet of God to men 
that had abominated the law of God. Notice, in Matthew 17, they're 
up on the Mount of Transfiguration, and in verse 5, while He was 
still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and 
suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my 
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him. I think sometimes 
persons come to the Mount of Transfiguration, and they read 
this declaration by the Father, and they might actually hear, 
well, don't listen to Moses, and don't listen to Elijah. That's 
not the point. When the Lord God Most High displays 
His public affirmation of His Son, and He says, this is My 
beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, and then He says, hear 
Him, that is reminiscent of a promise that has already come in Scripture. 
In Deuteronomy chapter 18, at the hands of Moses, there was 
an announcement of a prophet who was to come. Deuteronomy 
18.15 says, The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet 
like me from your midst, from your brethren. And then Moses 
ends with, Him you shall hear. So it's no accident that on the 
Mount of Transfiguration, the Father says, hear Him. It's reminiscent 
of Deuteronomy 18.15. This is the prophet promised 
and sent by God to do the bidding of God in this particular situation. Notice in Matthew 21, when the 
Lord Christ enters triumphantly into Jerusalem. Notice what happens 
when the persons ask, who is this in 21.10? So the multitude 
said, this is Jesus the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee. So as we approach these woes 
of condemnation, we need to hear them come from the mouth of Christ 
the prophet. There's even a further precedence 
for this in the Old Testament prophets. In the prophet Habakkuk, 
in chapter 2, verses 6 to 9, there are a series of woes that 
are pronounced upon sinners. We see six woes pronounced by 
Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 5. And if you link Isaiah 5 and 
this section in Matthew together, you will see strong similarities. I don't think any of us should 
miss the connection. In Isaiah 5, verses 1-7, the 
prophet tells a parable about a vineyard and about God's displeasure 
with the nation of Israel for not having tended to that vineyard. 
Well, Jesus does that in Matthew 21, verses 33-46. Then the prophet, after giving 
that parable of the vineyard, pronounces woes of condemnation 
upon his generation for having sinned against God and broken 
their covenant responsibilities. Well, that's what Christ is doing 
here in Matthew 23, 13-33. After Isaiah concludes the parable 
and concludes the pronouncement of the woes, he pronounces judgment 
upon his generation, upon the people of Israel that were guilty 
of violating God's law. That's what Christ does here. 
That is precisely the same emphasis. Notice in verse 34, Therefore, 
indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, scribes, some of them 
you will kill and crucify. And then he says in verse 35, 
that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth 
from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son 
of Berechiah. This makes sense in the Hebrew 
canon because Abel is found in Genesis and Zechariah is found 
in 2 Chronicles. The Hebrew canon is structured 
with Genesis as the first book and 2 Chronicles as the last 
book. So Jesus is literally giving 
us an A to Z. The measure of the guilt had 
been filled up, and now they were going to reap the judgment 
and justice of God Most High for their infidelity, primarily 
seen in their rejection of God's Messiah. And then Jesus closes 
in verse 36 by saying, Assuredly, I say to you, all these things 
will come upon this generation. So you really shouldn't miss 
What Christ is doing in terms of pronouncing these woes, functioning 
as a prophet, the way that Isaiah did very specifically. Now note, 
secondly, the pronouncement of woes. Verses 13 to 33. But as I said, we're going to 
focus on verse 13. In the first place, the word 
means horror. Again, think opposite of blessing. Blessing good, woe bad. It's 
probably the best and easiest way that you can remember this. 
Woe can be an interjection of pain. Woe can be a distress and 
a warning. Chamberlain says that here the 
woe joins deepest sorrow to sternest warning. Carson says it is neither 
vindictive nor spiteful so much as judicial. That's what's underscored 
here. It's the judicial character of 
Christ's work as a prophet, coming on behalf of God, suing the nation 
of Israel as God's prosecuting attorney, and showing them where 
they have fallen short and where they have sinned against God. 
He says, Jesus the Messiah pronounces judgment. Osborne says that Garland, 
another commentator, notes a strong imprecatory aspect. Imprecatory 
means to call God's wrath and curse down upon someone. He notes a strong imprecatory 
aspect stemming from the woe oracles of the Old Testament. 
He says, thus Jesus is pronouncing prophetic judgment on the leaders 
and the planned vengeance of God on them for their sins. This is our context, this is 
what's happening, so that we don't engage in the sorts of 
silliness that I referenced earlier, to come to this chapter and say, 
well, this is unlovely, this is unbecoming, as if somehow 
we're more godly and more upright and somehow know to use language 
better than the Lord of glory himself. How dare we ever say 
that what Christ has done is unlovely, or it's somehow unsavory, 
or it's inconsistent with the spirit of love and gentleness 
and mildness that our Lord displays. That gentleness and that mildness 
is not ever divorced from justice. from judgment, from wrath. It's a very fitting description 
in Revelation chapter 6, when the strong men of the earth and 
men all over the earth are calling upon the rocks and the mountains 
to fall on them and to hide them from what? From the wrath of 
the Lamb. You reject Christ as Lord and 
Savior, you reject the prophet of mercy by God, you reject the 
gospel call, and you will meet Jesus Christ as judge. You will 
meet Jesus Christ and He will say those words, depart from 
me, I never knew you. In many respects, chapter 23, 
hopefully under God, will awaken, will cause us to reflect upon 
the reality that this isn't games. We're not playing games when 
we gather together and we preach the gospel. In this first woe, 
we see what's at stake. These Pharisees and scribes, 
they slammed the door in the faces of men that were seeking 
access to the kingdom of heaven. That's what's at stake. That's 
why he's so stern. That's why he's so pointed. That's 
why the judgment is so hot in this particular passage. Because 
these men, who had charged Jesus with being demon-possessed, were 
barring people from entering into the very kingdom of heaven 
itself. We need to see that. Note, secondly, the meaning of 
woe. Secondly, the target identified. It's the religious leaders. In 
our text, scribes and Pharisees, but we're not supposed to believe 
that Jesus doesn't include Sadducees. that Jesus doesn't include the 
elders. I think scribes and Pharisees here serves as a bit of theological 
shorthand to identify the religious leadership of Israel in the first 
century that were charged with teaching the law of God accurately. 
In fact, they occupied Moses' seat according to verses 2 and 
3, but they distorted Moses' teaching. Moses announces, even 
on the plains of Moab, the new covenant in Deuteronomy 30. Christ is promised throughout 
the Torah. Christ is promised throughout the law, throughout 
the writings, throughout the prophets. Christ is everywhere 
present in Genesis through to Malachi in our English Bibles. 
Christ is there, but these men neglect that. So Jesus targets 
them. Notice how he describes them. 
They're called hypocrites in each woe except one. Seven times 
total. Again, I vote for or I would 
think that Jesus would be thrown off of any university campus 
in modern America or Canada because he offends the delicate sensitivities 
of the individuals who can't deal with reality. If somebody's 
a hypocrite, it's not a sin to call them a hypocrite. When Jesus 
calls them fools, you might remember in the Sermon on the Mount where 
Jesus condemns calling persons fools. Not if they really are. If you say fool or raka to a 
brother in Christ over something that is non-essential, you shouldn't 
do that. It's the charge of murder. It's 
guilty, like murder is, because it reveals the heartness and 
the anger in your heart. But when Christ calls fools fools, 
There's no sin there. There's no contradiction there. 
There's no inconsistency there. He calls them hypocrites. He 
calls them blind guides twice in verses 16 and 24. Blind guides. Just imagine that. Just think 
about that for one quick second. A blind guide. Do you see the 
oxymoronic nature of that? You don't typically hire a guide 
because he can't see. You typically hire a guide who 
not only can see, but can navigate. You want someone competent. You 
want someone able. You want someone proficient. 
You want someone that's going to make sure you don't fall into 
the place that you are trying to avoid. You don't hire a blind 
guide. You don't follow a blind guide. 
Sometimes I hear about Reformed churches. Well, they're so boring. 
I go to this other place because there's pizzazz. You know, I 
think it's incumbent upon gospel preachers to preach in a way 
that is interesting. I mean, if the Word of God is 
what it is, it is a very interesting thing. So preachers ought to 
labor to be understood and to make it interesting. Why in the 
world would we try and bore people? But sometimes I think the charge 
does not stick. Oh, it's boring. So I'm going 
to go to this other place where there's razzmatazz. Yeah, but 
that's a blind guide leading blind men into ditches. I'd rather 
have less razzmatazz and a less bit of pizzazz with a safe guide 
leading me on to the kingdom of heaven. We're so foolish in 
North America today. We seek after what the flesh 
desires, what the flesh craves, and what we believe are our felt 
needs. I've got to be satisfied, I've 
got to be taken care of, I've got to be pandered to, and there's 
just a whole host of churches out there that will do that very 
thing. But if they're blind guides, brethren, you're going to fall 
into the canyon. I think of the Grand Canyon. 
I've always wanted to take one of those burrow rides down to 
the base of the canyon or to the bottom of the canyon. But 
I wouldn't want a blind guide. I wouldn't want the guy on the 
burrow in front of me to have the dark sunglasses and one of 
those poles. I'd want to make sure that he 
recently had his eyes checked and he could ride a burrow and 
he could navigate the canyon, because I don't want to topple 
to my death. And yet persons will go to churches 
where there's pizazz, where our felt needs are met, where there's 
an emotional higher rush, but they are not being guided safely 
to heaven. I think what Osborne says is 
correct. Christ has two purposes here 
in Matthew 23. To condemn the wretchedness of 
Israel in the first century. When Jesus the Messiah comes, 
he comes to his own, and they receive him not, but they crucify 
the Lord of glory. But the second purpose is to 
warn the church Don't follow blind guides. Don't go after 
fools. Don't go after Benny Hinn. I 
mean, the rawest pagan knows he's a fool. How can a professing 
Christian actually have propped with such nonsense? Why is it 
that these guys command these humongous auditoriums filled 
with souls? Because of the pizzazz? Because 
of the razzmatazz? Yeah, but they're leading men 
off to the pit. We have to take that into consideration. 
One thing I hope that Pastor Cam and I always try to be are 
safe guides. You may not get the razzmatazz, 
you may not get the pizzazz, every one of your felt needs 
may not be met, but brethren, hopefully, we'll be safe guides 
to you on your way to heaven, because that's the purpose for 
the pastoral ministry. It's to preach the Word, to be 
ready in season and out of season, to convince, rebuke, exhort with 
all longsuffering and teaching. to realize that a time will come 
when men will not endure sound doctrine, but because they have 
itching ears, they're going to heap up teachers that are more 
than happy to scratch them, to cater to those felt needs. Well, that's not the way it's 
going to be here, I hope. That doesn't mean we hate you 
and don't want your felt needs to be realized and achieved and 
don't want you to be happy. Of course! Do you know how happiness 
is achieved in the Christian soul? Through the appropriation 
of the Word of God. The longer I live, brethren, 
the more I experience this world, the more I am absolutely convinced 
that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that 
proceeds from the mouth of God. That's why there's been an emphasis 
of late. I hope it's not guilt manipulation, 
and I hope it's not nagging, but I realize, at times, I make 
these sort of impassioned pleas for persons to show up at church. 
Now, outsiders would say, well, pastors have a vested interest 
in that, because persons who show up for church bring money, 
or they bring some sort of accolades, or they help the man with his 
prestige. No, that's not why I want you 
to show up at church. because man shall not live by 
bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth 
of God. You need to eat what is provided to you in the public 
context of the corporate worship of God. You need to eat the supper 
that is afforded to you by the divine householder who gathers 
us together so that we can feast as weary pilgrims. It's not for 
the ego of the elders or for the financial well-being of the 
church, it's for your joy. Public worship, to be preferred 
over the private place, is what Puritans taught. There's been 
this resurgence and this delight in Puritan literature and Reformed 
theology. Then our churches ought to reflect 
it with vibrancy and with presence and with that zeal that David 
exhibits in Psalm 122. I was glad when they said unto 
me, let us go to the house of the Lord. Not, oh, what a burden, 
oh, what a threat, oh, what a terrible thing. Brethren, it's a joyful, 
delightful thing to gather under God's Word. There's no better 
privilege for the creature than to hear the Word of his Creator, 
and for us, our Redeemer. He refers to them as fools and 
blind twice, moroi. Where we get our word moron, 
that's what Jesus calls that. Now, that might be a forbidden 
word for some of you children. If you were to call your sibling 
that, I could hear your parents say, you're not supposed to say 
that. Jesus is God in the flesh, and for him to pronounce moron 
on somebody, you can rest assured they deserved it. As well, he calls them serpents 
and broods, a brood of vipers once. You see why I'm saying 
that Jesus would not be welcomed into your safe space? I mean, 
we're offended over the smallest things anymore, aren't we? Everybody's 
offended about everything. We're so delicate. We blaspheme 
God as a culture. We mock Christ as a culture. We're violently opposed to the 
word of truth as a culture. But it really hurt my feelings 
by saying this in my university setting. We can't even study 
history anymore because somebody somewhere is going to be offended. 
We can't do anything. So I suggest that Jesus would 
not be a welcomed addition to any university in our culture. He probably would have trouble 
fitting into some churches as well. He does not pull any punches. I think, as this brief survey 
ought to show for us, the implication of this is that the seriousness 
of religious heresy is magnified. They are hypocrites, they are 
blind guides, they are fools and blind, they are serpents, 
brood of vipers once. It shows the severity and the 
enormity of their sin of heresy, and it shows just how serious 
a matter it is. And I think there is as well 
a necessity to warn people and to condemn heresy. John Calvin 
says this in his commentary. He says, hence, we may infer 
how cruel is the mildness of those who dislike our vehemence. He's dealing with the softies 
of his day. Oh, you can't say that, Calvin. Don't you know the Pope will 
be offended? You can't say that, Calvin. Don't you know those 
priests will be offended? You can't use such vehemence 
against your opposition because we need to be gentle and meek 
and mild. And I'm all for that. We need 
to be gentle and meek and mild until someone denies the Lord 
Jesus Christ. Then they deserve a woe. Calvin 
goes on to say, freely throwing themselves into 
the jaws of the wolves unless the pastor who desires to save 
them and endeavors to rescue them from destruction drive them 
away with a loud voice. I think his imagery or the metaphor 
is suggestive. I have never shepherded sheep, 
but I have to think that if I was, and I was gazing in the distance 
at my little flock of sheep, and a wolf started to run to 
them, I wouldn't just mildly and kindly say to that wolf, 
would you please stop? Would you please spare them? 
Would you please not feast on them? Would you please not go 
after their blood? No, I would run. I would take 
my shepherd's staff. I would scream at the wolf and 
try to beat it in the head to stop him. That's what Jesus is 
doing here. And it's far more serious. Remember, 
he looked upon them, he had compassion, because what? They were like 
sheep having no shepherd. We have our answer why? Because 
the men who were supposed to be the shepherds and charged 
the Messiah with being demon-possessed, had resisted Him every step of 
the way, had rejected the very law of Moses that they supposedly 
sat in the seat of Moses to teach, and they themselves were blind 
guides to those in Israel. And that brings us to this first 
woe. Notice, they closed the doors 
of the kingdom. Verse 13. I think that we spend 
time here because it summarizes all the rest. The others are 
very specific and very vivid and they're very detailed, but 
in many respects, verse 13 sort of serves as a capstone or a 
summary statement of their crime. He says, Woe to you, scribes 
and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of 
heaven against men, for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you 
allow those who are entering to go in. Christ came to do what? Christ came to throw open the 
doors of the Kingdom of Heaven. After the baptism, after He goes 
into the wilderness, when He embarks on His public ministry, 
what does He say? He says, repent, for the Kingdom 
of Heaven is what? It's at hand. Christ flings the 
gates open. He flings the doors open. The 
Messiah of God has arrived. The One in whom all the promises 
of God are, yea and amen, has arrived. The One who is going 
to be that master doorkeeper to bring sinners to the Father 
through His own intercession. That One comes to open the Kingdom 
of Heaven. These men close it. The Word 
can be translated literally, they slam the door in the face 
of. Have you ever had that happen? 
Anyone ever slam the door in your face? Say, well, no, that's 
never happened to me. Good on you. When that happens, 
you'll be able to enter in a little bit to what's going on here. 
These scribes and Pharisees, these hypocrites, slammed the 
door in the faces of men who were seeking position in the 
kingdom of heaven. Now, they didn't have absolute 
authority. It is metaphorical to a large degree. Back in Matthew 
16, when Jesus gives the keys of the kingdom to Peter and thus 
to the church, He doesn't mean they have absolute authority. 
In other words, we don't make the decision as to who enters 
in. It's metaphorical. As you preach the gospel, as 
you proclaim the truth, as you set Christ crucified before people, 
God Most High brings them through that preaching. He brings them 
through the power of His Holy Spirit to enter into that kingdom. 
So they don't have sovereign authority, like what Gil says 
here. It says in terms of them slamming 
the door in the faces of people, he says, not eternal life and 
happiness, the entrance into which can neither be opened nor 
shut by men. Those whom God determines to 
bring tither shall have an entrance abundantly ministered to them 
in spite of the opposition of men and of devils. So even if 
a Pharisee or a scribe were to stand before one of the elect 
of God, the Lord God Almighty would bring them in. Don't ever 
miss that. It's a metaphor though. In their 
religious doings, in their religious ministry, in the way they preached, 
in the way they taught, in the way they spoke, instead of opening 
up that kingdom of heaven, they slammed the door in the faces 
of men. Notice the result of this. Verse 
13, For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men, for you 
neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering 
to go in. You don't go in. You have rejected. You have stayed 
away, you have resisted the Lord Christ, you have resisted the 
law that you have supposedly been teaching, Genesis 3, Genesis 
22, Exodus throughout, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. Christ 
is filled up in those passages. People would say, I don't want 
to read the Old Testament because I want to learn about Jesus. 
If you're not reading the Old Testament, you're not learning 
about Jesus. It's just that simple. But what 
do they do? They've denied themselves access. 
You neither enter in, but look at what else they're doing. You 
don't allow seekers to enter as well. This is terrible. Jesus 
spoke to this in Matthew 15. He says if a blind man leads 
a blind man, both will fall into a pit. Sometimes you hear this. 
Well, you know, people can't be blamed because they listen 
to Joel Osteen. People can't be blamed because 
they listen to Benny Hinn. According to Jesus, they can. 
They're at gunpoint. I don't think Benny Hinn or Joel 
Osteen has goons out there with AKs putting it in the faces of 
people and saying, you need to sit under this heresy. If that 
were the case, I might cut the listener a little slack. But 
they go there because their felt needs are catered to. They go 
there because they're inspired. If you come here to get inspired, 
you're probably sorely wanting. Hopefully you come to be instructed. 
What happened to that? Aren't we to grow in the grace 
and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? Not 
grow in our experience, not grow in our emotional stability. And 
paradoxically, when we grow in the grace and in the knowledge 
of the Lord Jesus, our emotional life is typically more stable. 
Our experiences of God are far more real because they're founded 
in truth and not hoopla. And this is what God has purposed 
for his people. These men blocked the very doors 
of heaven before these seekers after entrance. Davies and Allison 
say, this woe appropriately prefaces the series as a sort of summary 
of the whole. The scribes and Pharisees, despite 
their religious efforts, neither enter the kingdom nor allow others 
to do so. I love what they say next. They 
are not leaders, but misleaders. They are not leaders but misleaders. They have misled the people because 
they have taken their eyes off of Jesus and they have indeed 
confused them with a twisted hermeneutic imposed upon the 
Scripture wherein fuzziness and distortion and all manner of 
wickedness flows from. I just want to investigate the 
manner by which they do this. So he says, you shut up the kingdom 
of heaven against men, for you neither go in yourselves, nor 
do you allow those who are entering to go in. I think there's ample 
evidence up to this point to sort of fill in the blanks. How 
did they do that? I mean, did they ascend to heaven? Did they 
slam the doors? Did they tell people, let's get together 
and study the satanic Bible? They get together and brainwash 
the hapless souls that populated Israel in the first century. 
How did they do it? There are several things that 
I think we ought to conclude. In the first place, they're hypocrisy. 
They're hypocrisy. I think this is an addition. 
I don't think this is the primary emphasis, because as Gil says, 
good truth doesn't suffer, even though it comes from bad men. 
But, hypocrisy. You've got to consider that in 
an illiterate state, or an age where literacy was not as high, 
and Bibles were not as prevalent, not everybody had their Cambridge 
New King James Bible that they took home after synagogue worship 
on Saturday. So you had to pay attention, 
you had to listen in the synagogue, and you would also study, you 
would see, you would look at the lives of people. And when 
the scribes and the Pharisees are living like the way Jesus 
describes here, their hypocrisy is evident, isn't it? They say 
one thing, but they engage in another. I remember it's in Andrew 
Bonar's book, or Horatius Bonar, one of those brothers, literally 
those brothers, but one of our brothers spiritually, in Words 
to Winners of Souls, he quotes someone who said, men know that 
if religion means anything, then it means everything, right? Men 
know that if religion means anything, if God, Christ, the Spirit, the 
Bible, justification by faith, glorification to come, sanctification 
in the present, if that means anything to us, it's going to 
mean everything, isn't it? So I'm always surprised when 
persons don't have this desire to be where the Word of God is. 
And persons don't read their Bibles, or persons don't pray. I'm not saying this as a nag, 
or as a guilt manipulator, how dare you, but... There should 
be that longing, that hunger, that thirst for righteousness, 
that desire to be where God is. And He has promised in a special 
way to be in the new covenant dwelling, which is the church. 
It's the church of God described as the house of God in 1 Timothy 
3.15. Now, I don't doubt that God is 
present in our homes. God is omniscient, to be sure, 
omnipresent, to be sure. But God has promised in a special 
way to be accessed by His people. the Father, through the Son, 
by the Spirit, on the Lord's day. This is a good thing. And persons that have no desire 
for that, they betray that confession. If religion means anything, it 
means everything. So you're watching these hypocrites 
live like the devil. And I'm not talking about a little 
bit... I mean, if anybody followed you during the day and they kept 
a list and, you know, a notepad and a pen, I wouldn't want to 
see that list at the end of the day. Would you? I mean, some 
of you probably see me walking down Broadway and say, wow, that 
looks good. Yeah, you don't know what's going 
on in the hat. What if somebody followed you around all day and 
wrote down everything in hypocrisy? It'd be a pretty discouraging 
adventure, wouldn't it? Let me just show you what I got 
on you today. Nah, I don't know. That's not under edification. 
I'm not talking about that. I'm not talking about the remaining 
sin that we have in our lives, that Roman 7 situation, that 
Galatians 5.17, where the Spirit lusts against the flesh and the 
flesh against the Spirit. These two are contrary to one 
another so that you don't do the things that you want. I'm 
not talking about that. I'm talking about an overarching 
theme of hypocrisy in your life. Do you profess faith in Christ 
and live as far from Christ as you possibly can? Because if 
so, you are a hypocrite. As well, one of the other things 
by which they slammed the door in the faces of men was legalism. Legitimate, classic, textbook 
definition. I know that we oftentimes bandy 
somebody a legalist because they don't do the same sorts of things 
we do. Oh, he's a legalist because he doesn't do this. That might 
be a stretch, but these guys really were legalists. How did 
they teach entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven? By the works 
of the law. Did the Old Testament, did the 
Torah teach that? By the works of the law? No. 
It always pointed men to the Redeemer, to the Christ, to the 
Messiah. One of the purposes for the law 
was to drive men to see their need for the Savior. And these 
men heap up burdens upon the shoulders of others that they 
themselves don't even move a finger to help with. As well, they engaged 
in doctrinal heresy. We'll see that in a moment when 
we get to why I think is the main reason. Doctrinal heresy. Again, in our modern setting, 
theology, shmeology, who cares? You're standing at the very top 
of the Grand Canyon and you're looking at that guide that's 
going to take you down to the base. And he says, yeah, I looked 
online, I googled how to do this, That's not going to instill confidence 
in you, is it? You're not jumping on that burrow's 
back and ready to shimmy down that hill to go into the base 
of the canyon. People don't care about what 
is most important today. That's a generalization. Don't 
go home and cry. Say, Jim said, I don't care. 
If you don't, then take it to heart. But if you do, and I'm 
generalizing, take it the way I'm specifying. We don't care. Witness worship today. We don't 
care. Do we ever ask the question, 
again, not we specifically, we generically or generally, do 
we ever ask the question, what does God want in worship? What does God demand in worship? How is God to be worshiped? Is that a question that's wrestled 
with? Or do we say, how about just doing this because it'll 
make people feel good? Or how about offering this because 
it'll make people happy? Or how about this because it'll 
market our church? Twelve. What's God saying? Hebrews 12 tells us there's an 
acceptable way to worship God. Do you know who defines that 
acceptable way? Not us. We have trouble getting out of 
bed some mornings, brethren. Do we have the ability? to conceive 
how the creature approaches the Creator? Or do we listen to what 
the Creator tells us in His written Word? That is the case. Doctrinal heresy. Got off the 
beaten path there, sorry. Another way is doctrinal deviation. I think this is sometimes more 
dangerous. Doctrinal deviation. Heresy is 
when somebody just says something completely false. Like the Jehovah's 
Witnesses. They say, Jesus is a creature. That's completely false. I think 
most Christians are able to see that. It's obvious, right? I mentioned Benny Hinn and Joel 
Osteen, those prophets of profit and esteem in our own day. I 
think most Christians would be able to say, yes, something's 
not right there, but it's the deviation, it's the subtleties 
in a man's doctrine. Even as we move through these 
woes, we'll see that the scribes and the Pharisees weren't completely 
out in left field. They perverted the way men should 
engage in oaths. They perverted the system of 
tithing, but even Jesus himself. These you ought to have done 
without leaving the others undone. So they didn't get everything 
wrong. Again, I think this is oftentimes pervasive. In many 
respects, the federal vision may be more dangerous because 
of its doctrinal deviation than a Benny Hinn or a Joel Osteen. 
or even Jehovah's Witnesses, because we can see that. They're 
not even on our radar. But these other guys quote Calvin. 
They quote the catechisms. They quote the Confession. They 
sound like they know what they're talking about. They speak covenant 
theology. I think in some ways the scribes 
and the Pharisees were like that. They were not so outlandish. 
They were not so whacked out. I mean, even go back to the controversy 
in chapter 22. Jesus is on the side of the Pharisees 
when it comes to the doctrine of the resurrection. When the 
Sadducees come and they present that story to Jesus about the 
woman who was married and all of her husbands died, And whose 
wife will she be in the resurrection? Jesus gave the same response 
that the Pharisees would have given. There is a hope beyond 
the grave. So they weren't completely wrong, 
and I think that's what you need to be on the lookout for. This 
is why we encourage you, read the Confession of Faith. It's 
not the inspired, infallible Word of God, but it's an accurate 
summary statement of those things most surely believed among us. 
It's like guardrails on the street. If I'm going up one of those 
mountain passes, I quite like to see a guardrail keeping me 
from veering off into the abyss. and the confessions and the creeds 
that have been developed in the history of the Christian church, 
they function like that. They help keep us on the road 
so we don't end up going off into the abyss. It will help 
us to spot doctrinal deviation, and hopefully not to engage in 
it. The primary emphasis in our text, the primary emphasis throughout 
Matthew's Gospel, and yea, the entirety of the Bible, is that 
they rejected the Messiahship of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's 
how they slammed the door in the faces of men that were seeking 
entrance to the kingdom of heaven. That's how they themselves denied 
entrance into the kingdom of heaven. They didn't listen to 
Moses. They said, we're going to sit 
in Moses' seat and we're going to teach Moses words, but we're 
not going to listen to Moses. They didn't listen to the promise 
in the garden in Genesis 3.15. They didn't see the typology 
in Abraham and Isaac in Genesis 22. They didn't hear the Shiloh 
prophecy in Genesis 49. They didn't receive the typology 
involved in the Book of Exodus. They certainly missed the Day 
of Atonement when the priest splashes, or the priest takes 
the blood and pours it out on the mercy seat in that Holy of 
Holies. They weren't listening. They 
didn't hear the writings. They weren't paying attention 
to David when he said to them, you know, the Lord said to my 
Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. 
That was the text at the end of chapter 22 that Jesus brings 
upon them. He says to them specifically, 
who is David's son? Who is he? And they missed it. This was their error. This was 
their sin. This was their rebellion. And 
their great heresy is that they rejected the Messiah-ship of 
Jesus. They rejected the fact that He 
was the one sent from God to save His people from their sins. 
They didn't heed the Scriptures. They were charged to teach from 
Moses' seat. They didn't heed the warnings 
of John the Baptist. What does the Baptist say to 
them out in the wilderness in Matthew chapter 3? He tells them 
to repent. pointing the finger to the Lord 
of glory, didn't heed the words of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. 
The parallel in Luke 11.52, Jesus says, Woe to you, lawyers, for 
you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter 
in yourselves, and those who are entering in you hindered. 
You've taken away the key of knowledge, the knowledge of the 
truth concerning the Messiah, concerning the Lord Christ, concerning 
the reality that He is the One the Old Testament prophesied. 
would come to save his people from their sins. Carson says, 
concerning the last controversy in 2241-46 reveals the real failure. The teachers of the law and the 
Pharisees do not enter the kingdom because they refuse to recognize 
who Jesus is. And that brings it to a real 
practical level for each and every one of us here. Do you 
recognize who Jesus is? Not do you recognize that we 
should go to church because our mom and dads tell us to do so, 
though that is a good reason. Children, obey your parents and 
the Lord, for this is right. When they come at, you know, 
hopefully 5 a.m. on a Sunday morning and get you 
out of bed, you say, yes! I'm just kidding, not 5 a.m. 
You obey, but do you recognize who Jesus is? Do you recognize 
what Scripture says? Do you realize he's the one that 
is told of in Genesis chapter 3? Adam and Eve make a mess of 
things, don't they? Adam eats, he rebels against 
God, he violates the covenant of words. He plunges himself 
and his posterity into a place of sin and depravity. And God 
comes with promise. God says there will be a seed 
of a woman, and that seed of a woman is going to crush the 
head of the serpent. The skull-crushing seed of the 
woman is going to deal the death blow and bring many sons to glory. Do you recognize that? Do you 
see Christ as altogether lovely and chief among ten thousand? 
Do you see Christ as the God-man? Do you see Christ as the one 
who goes to the cross? Not because He's a sinner, not 
because He's a criminal, not because He violated any laws, 
but He goes to the cross for us. Those two words ought to 
make anyone who recognizes Jesus very happy. For us. For us men 
and for our salvation. He came down. That's what a recognition 
of Christ will promote. That's what it is to recognize 
Jesus. These men had blinders on. These 
men slammed the door in the faces of any who would seek. You can 
see that in several places in the Gospel records. In Matthew 
chapter 9, Matthew 11, as we just read. We just read this, 
didn't we? What does Jesus do? He casts 
out a demon. Some poor pathetic man had been 
demon-possessed. and the demon is cast out. You 
think the Pharisees could have for a moment said, Praise God, 
you're no longer possessed by a demon. Do you think these heartless 
wretches could have for a moment entertained a little bit of human 
compassion and just been thrilled with the reality that a formerly 
possessed man was no longer possessed? No, not these guys. They're hypocrites. Woe to them! They say that Jesus 
is demon-possessed. What's Jesus say in Matthew 11 
concerning the popular reception of Him among the religious leaders? John the Baptist came, he didn't 
eat or drink, and you said he had a demon. Jesus comes, the 
Son of Man comes, and He eats and He drinks, and you call Him 
a wine-bibber and a glutton. And I think when we looked at 
that passage, I might have pointed you to Deuteronomy 21. I think 
what Jesus is suggesting in that passage is that the religious 
leaders called him the incorrigible son, a wine-bibber and a glutton, 
and thus he is susceptible to the death penalty. What happens 
in Matthew 12? Jesus heals on the Sabbath. Again, 
could these thankless base wretches, for just one brief moment, say 
to the persons who were healed, praise God, you're no longer 
in misery. No. Who does he think he is healing 
on the Sabbath day? Well, he's the Lord of the Sabbath, 
and he knows specifically what Sabbath observance looks like, 
you hypocrites. What's it say in 12? They plotted 
how they might kill him. That's why in that last woe, 
they say, oh, we wouldn't be like our murderous fathers. We've 
built the monuments to the prophets. We wouldn't be like those who 
murdered Abel. We wouldn't be like those who 
murdered Zechariah. Jesus says you are witnesses 
against yourselves. because in the fact that they 
were going to say, crucify him, crucify him, to the greatest 
prophet of all times, they are right in line, in solidarity 
with these murderous fathers. So I ask, do you recognize Jesus? Have you by grace believed on 
Jesus? Have you by grace repented from 
your sins? Have you by grace been able to 
say, I have? the kingdom of heaven conferred. You see, it's not, did you go 
to seminary? Have you memorized the catechism? 
Those are good things, but have you believed the gospel? This 
is the primary emphasis. This is the stress. This is wherein 
they slam the door to themselves and to others. It's because they've 
rejected the Lord Jesus Christ. Davies and Allison say, this 
then indicts them, not as simply wrong, but contagiously wrong. This is the problem with religious 
heresy. It's contagious, isn't it? You 
ever wonder why Paul says, after two or three warnings, reject 
a divisive and a factious man? Why? Because if he's allowed 
to flourish in the context of the local church, the gangrene's 
going to spread. I don't know what it is, brethren. 
Well, I do know what it is. It's sin. And even in the heart 
of the people of God, the remaining corruption, we tend to gravitate 
toward that which is dark. We gravitate toward that which 
is wrong. We gravitate toward that which 
is contrary to the Holy Scripture. So if we allow heresy to prosper 
in the context of the church, we can't assume that everything's 
going to be okay. No, reject him. Get him out. Don't let him spew forth that 
Christ-rejecting heresy. Henry Matthew says, they were 
sworn. He's not actually named Henry 
Matthew, kids. He's named Matthew Henry. I just wanted to clarify 
that. They were sworn enemies to the gospel of Christ and consequently 
to the salvation of the souls of men. So in the first instance, 
with our message today, this simple question, are you entering 
the kingdom of heaven? And if the answer is no, then 
may I say to you, with all of the authority of God's Holy Word, 
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, to look to Him and to 
live. Remember that instance in the 
book of Numbers, when the people were murmuring and grumbling 
and complaining, so God sent all of these snakes, and these 
snakes bit the people. And Moses interceded, and God 
says, I want you to erect a brazen serpent in the wilderness. And 
when the people look, What will they do? They'll live. Not when 
the people drag themselves over there. Not when the people suck 
the venom out and spit it and then went. Not when the people 
gathered together in harmony and said, let's go to that serpent. 
When they looked, they lived. You say, why is that important? 
Because Jesus uses that as an analogy. Jesus uses that as a 
metaphor. Jesus used that as a comparison 
with his own ministry in John 3. Just as Moses lifted up the 
serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted 
up. What's the implication? As men looked and lived at the 
serpent, so men look and live at the Christ. That's my encouragement 
to you this morning. Believe. Believe the gospel. I don't care how old you are. 
I don't care how young you are. I know this. You are a sinner. The only remedy for sin is in 
that fountain that is opened up for sin and uncleanness. This morning's readings, if you're 
a McShaneite, was in 1 John 1. Doesn't 1 John 1 thrill your 
hearts every time you read it? Or 1 John 1 thrill your heart 
every time you consider it? When John says, if we confess 
our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins 
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If you're an unbeliever here 
this morning, may I tell you, there is nothing better, there 
is nothing more joyous than to be able to sing, My sin, O the 
bliss of this glorious thought! My sin, not in part but the whole, 
is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! This first woe 
is pronounced upon those who would slam the door in the faces 
of those seeking the kingdom of heaven. In hopefully an attitude 
of opening the door, I say, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and 
you shall enter the kingdom of heaven. You shall enter eternal 
life. You will go to that place that 
is described for us in Revelation 21 and 22. Those who have the 
Spirit read that passage or those passages, and their hearts leap 
for joy. How could it not, when you read 
of a place when God Himself will wipe away every tear from our 
eyes? There's a lot of tears in this world, isn't there? There's 
a lot of heartache in this world. Yeah, everybody out there, and 
our own sin. Didn't your own sin grieve you? 
Didn't it disgust you? Don't you ever just think, why 
in the world would I have had that thought? Why in the world 
would I be prone to wander and prone to leave the God I love? 
I shared one time with reference to that hymn. Robert Robinson 
wrote that, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. the beginning 
of his Christian experience. Well, Robert Robinson went through 
some very dark and some very difficult times near the end 
of his life. He's on a stagecoach, and a woman 
knows who he is. And a woman says, Wow, I love 
that hymn. It's a beautiful hymn. It's a 
pleasant hymn. And he says, Woman, if I could 
have the peace that I had when I composed that hymn, now I would 
give anything for it. He learned from experience, prone 
to wander, prone to leave the God I love. Doesn't it make your 
heart leap for joy in Revelation 21-22 when God's going to wipe 
away every tear from your eyes? There's going to be no more sorrow. 
There's going to be no more pain. There's going to be no more suffering. 
In our prayer meetings, most often on Sunday mornings and 
on Wednesday night, we have a lot of brethren in our church that 
need prayer. If you're not showing up at the prayer meetings on 
Sunday morning and on Wednesday night, I sure hope you're praying 
for them privately. I sure hope you're bringing these things 
before the God of heaven and earth in terms of the family 
altar. I don't just send out emails because that's what pastors 
should do. It's with the hope and the intent that you'll pray 
for them. You know, in that New Jerusalem, there's no more prayer 
meetings because so-and-so is having this surgery. There's no more prayer meetings 
in terms of so-and-so because their husbands or their wives 
treated them terribly. There's no more prayer meetings 
in terms of, you know, this person just lost everything economically 
or financially, and they're wiped out. It's not going to be that 
way. There's no more sorrow, there's no more pain, no more 
suffering. But you know what the chief and 
crown blessing is? Besides seeing Jesus, I'm talking about in terms 
of our earthly experience, no more death. No death. No death. We're so used to death, we're 
not jumping out of our pews at this particular point. Brethren, 
we weren't created to die. The wages of sin is death. In the New Jerusalem, there's 
no more sin. We're going to be confirmed in 
righteousness because of the doing and the dying and the rising 
of our blessed Redeemer. And that, my brethren, is the 
chief blessing in heaven. You get to be with Christ. He 
is the darling of heaven. He is the gem of heaven. He is 
that precious bridegroom that Solomon describes in the Song 
of Songs. He is that one that is altogether 
lovely. He is that one that is chief 
among ten thousand, and we will be in his presence forever. So, 
do not tarry, do not wait, do not listen to the doctrinal deviations 
that you've heard in your past. I think of hyper-Calvinism. It's 
a bit of a doctrinal deviation. There's truth in hyper-Calvinism. 
God is sovereign and you're totally depraved. Yeah. But there is 
a deviation when men aren't pressed to flee to Christ. When men aren't 
told to believe the Gospel. When men aren't told to run, 
to look, to live. There is deviation. deviation, 
and any sort of a religious approach to God that adds works to salvation. Notice what you're not getting 
today. I want you to go out and believe on Jesus and go get circumcised. Believe on Jesus and subscribe 
to the seven sacraments of the papal whore. I am not telling 
you that because we're saved by grace alone, through faith 
alone, in Christ alone. Works are a consequence, not 
a condition. Believe and being saved. Well, let us pray. Our Father 
in heaven, we thank you for your word and we thank you for the 
clarity of our Lord Jesus Christ. There's no mistaking what he 
is condemning in a passage like this. And I pray that all over 
the earth today the gospel would be preached and the gates of 
heaven itself would be thrown open and that you in your mercy 
and in your grace and through the power of the Holy Spirit 
would seek and save that which is lost. We know, God, that You 
are sovereign. We know that what is impossible 
with man is possible to You. And even as the Word has gone 
forth here this morning, we appeal to You. I don't appeal to sinners. 
I don't appeal to those outside of Christ in terms of thinking 
they have the ability. But I pray to You, Most High 
God, that You would come on the wings of amazing grace and do 
that which is an utter impossibility for anyone here. Save to the 
uttermost and be glorified in this. And we ask through Jesus 
Christ our Lord. Amen.